One of the most
important features of a modern Christmas season―the greeting card―is Boston’s
own contribution. Over sixty years ago, a Bostonian named Louis Prong invented
a process of printing color engravings―the “Chromos” of that period. His first
efforts at this new art were engraving bits of New England winter scenery on
cards, combined with various sentiments in the way of Christmas greetings. And
thus arose the first Christmas Cards, since copied the world over, and still, in
all parts of the world, carrying New England winter scenery.

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The first Christmas festival in America may well have been celebrated within
Greater Boston’s area. For the old Scandinavians had, in their pagan days,
their own winter festival of Jul (pronounced Yule) and, even before it became
Christmas, settlers from Iceland brought this festival to these shores. Back in
the Arctic parts of Scandinavia there was regular rejoicing at the birth of a
new sun after the short period of winter darkness―this would be the last part of
December. As celebrated in the warmer climate of their Vinland settlement (at
Mount Auburn), it was not the birth of a new sun but of a new world. These
people could not know that, even then, back in the Iceland they had left, there
had been a change of religions, and back home, their festival had already become
Christmas.

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The Puritans did not believe in Christmas, and forbade its celebration on the
ground that it was a survival of paganism. It was not till 1852 that that
holiday received recognition in Massachusetts. However, this does not go to
justify the common “sourpuss” reputation the Puritans have. They put enough
into their Thanksgiving to do for both holidays―the reason Thanksgiving has
customarily been on Thursday was, among Puritans and Pilgrims, to allow Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday to rest up from the feasting and rejoicing.

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The witchcraft panic of 1692 has been unjustly set up by enemies of New England
as an accusation against Puritan rule in Massachusetts. In point of fact,
Puritan rule had at the time already been overthrown, and Massachusetts was then
ruled by governors and judges appointed from across the ocean, and out to
terrorize Puritan lands. In the sixty years of the Puritan regime, there had
been only about a dozen witchcraft accusations, and, in many of these, the
result was a libel suit against the accuser. The persecution of 1692 ended in a
short time, as soon as Puritan juries agreed to refuse to convict. At first,
the judges would order the jury back with instructions to find a verdict of
guilty; then the Puritans refused to obey even these instructions. This created
the precedent in America that a judge cannot order a jury to convict anyone.